Apex Porter Novelli worked with Unilever to launch the Lifebuoy 'School of 5' handwashing campaign in Kenyan primary schools. The campaign formed handwashing clubs in 83% of schools and collected over 1.7 million signatures from people pledging to wash their hands. Lifebuoy doubled its market share from February to October 2011. Popular singer Esther Wahome promoted the campaign and handwashing clubs were formed in most schools, significantly increasing children's handwashing rates and Lifebuoy's sales.

1. Summary
Buoyed by the successful relaunch of Lifebuoy soap in the Kenyan market in 2010,
Apex Porter Novelli worked with Unilever to design a PR programme to maintain the
brand’s engagement with its core customers: mothers of children aged 5-12. The team
mobilised support from influential partners and enrolled popular gospel singer Esther
Wahome as the face of the brand for the ‘School of 5’ campaign in primary schools in
Nairobi. Handwashing clubs were formed in 83% of the schools, and children collected
over 1.7 million signatures from people pledging to wash their hands on key occasions.
The campaign was a hit with journalists, and Lifebuoy doubled its market share in from
February to October 2011.
The challenge
Research shows that only one out of ten Kenyans wash their hands
after visiting the toilet. As a result, Kenya loses 30,000 children
every year to diarrhoea and respiratory infections which can be
prevented by the simple act of handwashing with soap.
In Kenya, Lifebuoy soap had an image it has been trying to drop
for years – the soap for hardworking men, driven by 1980s TV
advertisements featuring a man coming home from a hard day at
work and using Lifebuoy to freshen up. In 2010, Apex Porter Novelli
successfully supported Unilever’s relaunch of Lifebuoy. The brand
was positioned as a health soap by creating a link with Unilever’s
Global Social Mission and working with key influencers to reinforce
the message that handwashing with soap saves lives. As a result, the
brand grew by over 200% in volume and gained 4% market share in
the health soap category, just five months after the relaunch.
In 2011, Unilever asked Apex Porter Novelli to support the
next phase of Lifebuoy’s rebirth by really engaging consumers.
The agency worked with Unilever’s marketing team to develop
the School of 5 campaign, which would be implemented in 80
schools in Nairobi as a pilot. The School of 5 had already been
implemented by Unilever in Asian markets and needed to be
redesigned to fit the Kenyan context.
The objectives of the School of 5 Campaign were:
• Measurably raise awareness of the importance of hand washing
with soap
• Establish Lifebuoy as the best affordable soap that has a health
benefit for the entire family
• Educate Kenyan families about the need for hygiene and
healthy living
• Create behaviour change: get more children aged 5-12 to wash
their hands after using the toilet by encouraging them to form
a habit of handwashing over 60 days and pledge to continue to
wash their hands.
Client: Unilever Kenya
Campaign: The Lifebuoy ‘School of 5’ Handwashing Campaign
Categories: Geographic: 6 Africa; Practice: 26 Consumer Marketing (Existing
product); Industry: 72 Educational and Cultural Institutions
Agency: Apex Porter Novelli
The Lifebuoy ‘School of 5’
Handwashing Campaign
Strategy and plan
Children are early adopters of new habits. Once ingrained while
they are young, they become a way of life and are carried to the rest
of the family.
The campaign was based on a handwashing survey conducted by
Prof. Mohammed Karama of the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
This showed that the despite children washing their hands, most
did not wash their hands properly, resulting in high bacteria counts
even after hand washing. The study showed low levels of education
were a factor in poor uptake of handwashing with soap.

2. The team also conducted a media perception survey to find out
brand perception amongst journalists that have authority in the area
of handwashing and health. The survey found out that Lifebuoy
was already considered to be a champion in the promotion of
handwashing with soap, but the brand needed to continue to provide
the media with new information and findings around handwashing.
As part of the Lifebuoy launch, the team had set up the Alliance
for the Promotion of Handwashing with Soap whose members are
six professional associations: The Kenya Association of Physicians;
National Nursing Association of Kenya; Kenya Association of
Hotelkeepers and Caterers; Kenya Private Schools Association;
Kenya Paediatrics Association and the Association of Public Health
Officers. The alliance members were enrolled as key drivers of the
School of 5 Campaign.
In addition, Apex Porter Novelli:
• Identified and enrolled Esther Wahome as a potential
brand ambassador
• Developed the campaign slogan: ‘Be Cool. Be Clean. Always Use
Soap!’ and pre-tested it in selected schools
• Built consensus with the Ministry of Public Health and
Sanitation on the schools message and received approval from
the Kenya Institute of Education to use the materials in schools.
• Organised a workshop for more than 70 stakeholders with a
mandate to promote sanitation and hygiene in schools to get
buy-in for the campaign.
• Trained 180 teachers on implementing the School of 5 campaign
in advance of its launch.
Implementation
Apex Porter Novelli organised and managed the launch of the
School of Five campaign at Westlands Primary School in May 2011.
The launch was attended by key opinion formers including the
Assistant Minister of Education and the Director of City Education.
Activities to support teachers in the 80 pilot schools included:
• An activation team visited schools to introduce a School of 5
comic with games and activities
• Children were invited to pledge to wash their hands on key
occasions. The school that collected the most pledges would
receive a reward
• Brand ambassador Esther Wahome performed in some of the
schools and taught the children a jingle she had developed for the
campaign, ‘Osha Mikono’ (Wash Your Hands).
• A regular bulletin for teachers kept them engaged and motivated.
The Alliance for the Promotion of Handwashing with Soap
conducted the Clean Hands Study which checked the sanitation
situation in schools in Nairobi. The results were released in
partnership with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public
Health and Sanitation.
In the run up to Global Handwashing Day on 12 October, Lifebuoy
got all the pilot schools together in an attempt to break the Guinness
World Record for the most number of people washing their
hands simultaneously in multiple locations. Lifebuoy also formed
a partnership with the Ministry of Public Health to help defeat
diarrhoea in children. When people pledged to wash their hands
during October, Lifebuoy give a cash donation to support the
initiative in Kenya. Pledges were collected through text messages,
public pledging on whiteboards, pledge cards and via Facebook.
Results
Through the School of 5 Campaign, Lifebuoy collected 1,779,419
pledges to handwash with soap, made by 80,000 children in the
80 schools that took part. An impressive 80% of schools have
since formed hygiene clubs, and 80% of schools now recite the
‘handwashing pledge’.
Lifebuoy sales continued to increase from the start of the campaign
in January 2011, and by the end of the campaign (which also
included other marketing activation and advertising) Lifebuoy had
doubled its share of the health soap market.
When business and health journalists in Kenya were asked in a post-
campaign media perception survey which soap they associate with
handwashing, they unanimously said Lifebuoy. They also connected
Esther Wahome with Lifebuoy and the handwashing message, and
recognised the link between the School of Five and Lifebuoy.
The Guinness World Record attempt created a buzz among
consumers and 53,873 people convened to break the record across
63 schools in Nairobi on October 12th 2011. (The previous record,
held by Bangladesh, was 52,970).
The campaign generated a total of 133 media mentions between
May and October 2011: an average of one story a day for the
entire period. There was no negative coverage. The coverage
communicated the key messages: 63% mentioned Lifebuoy, 85%
included the importance of hand-washing, relating it to Lifebuoy
soap, and 28% included the Lifebuoy Social Mission.
Unilever Kenya’s assistant brand manager Maureen Kayi said: ‘I’d
like to say a BIG thank you to Apex Porter Novelli for doing a great
job on Lifebuoy School of 5 handwashing campaign and the Global
Hand Washing Day campaign. I would particularly like to commend
you on pulling through multiple activities
Client: Unilever Kenya
Campaign: The Lifebuoy ‘School of 5’ Handwashing Campaign
Categories: Geographic: 6 Africa; Practice: 26 Consumer Marketing (Existing
product); Industry: 72 Educational and Cultural Institutions
Agency: Apex Porter Novelli